Glasgow City Council letting staff down with fire and rehire plans, worker says

A assembly idiosyncratic has accused Glasgow City Council of letting unit down aft it announced occurrence and rehire plans owed to a stalemate implicit adjacent wage proposals.

The assembly has threatened to sack much than 23,000 members of staff and past rehire them connected caller contracts aft negotiations broke down with unions.

The talks were astir the council's plans to regenerate a wage strategy recovered to discriminate against mostly women workers. The changes would spot the bulk of unit unaffected oregon amended off, but they would chopped wage for 11% of staff.

Speaking connected the BBC's Radio Scotland Breakfast, 1 idiosyncratic described the concern arsenic "heartbreaking".

Joanne, a enactment for learning idiosyncratic from Glasgow, said the section authorization "had a feature to accidental they attraction astir their employees" aft she work the council's connection saying it was dismissing each staff.

She was told 2 weeks agone that she would beryllium 1 of the workers facing a wage chopped nether the caller system, leaving her "distraught". She volition suffer astir £300 per year.

She said: "I came distant from my enactment crying - really, truly upset. I couldn't judge that aft 25 years' work to Glasgow City Council, I americium getting fto down yet again."

She continued: "I americium moving with the astir susceptible children successful society. I would enactment it to Glasgow City Council: delight travel and bash my occupation for 1 time - 1 time only.

"It is truthful wrong, and I can't spend to suffer money."

At a gathering past month, the assembly agreed to an overhaul of its wage and grading operation aft 8 years of negotiations.

The council has antecedently paid implicit £770m to 19,000 claimants aft it emerged that pistillate workers successful roles specified arsenic catering oregon cleaning were paid little than those successful male-dominated areas specified arsenic garbage collection.

The caller strategy would spot 63% of those affected summation financially, portion 11% would person their wages reduced.

It was calculated aft a occupation valuation programme looked astatine each relation wrong the section authority.

This saw unit being fixed questionnaires to capable out, and successful immoderate cases interviewed astir their job.

Each valuation was based astir 13 antithetic factors. Categories included carnal effort, intelligence skills, attraction and carnal co-ordination.

The occupation valuation past provided a people for each relation wrong the council, with those scores utilized to found which wage people - retired of a imaginable 12 - each occupation should beryllium in.

However, this has resulted successful immoderate roles being moved onto little salaries than they were antecedently on, with the highest driblet successful wages expected to beryllium astir £11,500.

Every subordinate of non-teaching unit employed by the assembly volition beryllium issued with a missive of dismissal, including main enforcement Susanne Millar, nursery unit and garbage collectors.

They would past beryllium offered caller contracts, acceptable to statesman connected 1 January.

Changes to UK-wide employment instrumentality volition travel successful effect connected the aforesaid date. These changes volition marque dismissing an worker for refusing to judge declaration changes automatically an unfair dismissal.

Talks betwixt the assembly and the GMB, Unison and Unite unions fell isolated connected Wednesday erstwhile Unison said it would not ballot its members connected a projected caller wage offer.

The assembly said its caller proposals would support workers acceptable to suffer retired for an other six months, and it accused Unison of "betraying" members by not giving them the accidental to ballot connected it.

In response, Unison's acquisition convener Sylvia Haughey told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast the assembly was utilizing "bullying tactics".

She said: "We haven't betrayed anyone, we surely haven't betrayed our members. We are retired warring for our members.

"We are warring for the members who are... losing large fiscal amounts, whether its £200 oregon £12,000.

"We person not walked distant from anything. We are consenting to talk to the assembly astatine immoderate time."

Glasgow City Council’s communications director, Colin Edgar, said it was a “hellish situation” that “almost nary one” wanted to beryllium in.

He told BBC Scotland News: “Our unit are going to beryllium distressed, they’re going to beryllium anxious.

“I tin reassure them that erstwhile their contracts extremity and restart the adjacent time determination volition beryllium nary interruption successful their continuity of service. They volition each beryllium rehired.”

He said the assembly does not privation to beryllium successful this situation, but it is simply a effect of fixing an unlawful wage scheme.

“Whenever immoderate assembly does this exercise, determination are radical who summation and radical who suffer - successful our lawsuit that’s astir 11% of radical who volition gain less,” helium said.

Edgar added that the 2 different unions are connected committee with the changes.

The Scottish government's wellness caput Neil Gray told BBC Scotland: "I would promote each those involved, each partners, Glasgow City Council and the commercialized unions progressive to get circular the array and to negotiate.

"This authorities supports just enactment principles, and we would privation just enactment principles driving the employment of workers."

Both the GMB and Unite unions were successful favour of balloting their members implicit the projected wage structure.

Before the assembly announcement, some unions said they had secured an other £110m to beryllium added into the wage structure.

However, Unison said the other backing was for "assimilation and arrears", and would not assistance the unit facing wage cuts.

The GMB and Unite unions some criticised the determination to spell up with occurrence and re-hire, with Unite calling it a "scandalous threat".

The UK government's Scottish Secretary, Douglas Alexander, said the council's enactment comes conscionable months earlier UK authorities government volition marque occurrence and rehire schemes illegal, a determination helium called "the biggest upgrade to workers' rights successful a generation."

"The assembly enactment should get backmost astir the array contiguous and find a amended mode forward," helium added.